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Latin for Language Learners

Latin has been squeezed out of the curriculum and recently excluded from the plan for foreign languages at primary school. Unless the trend is reversed English education will be poorer. In Politeia's new publication Latin for Language Learners, Professor Chris Pelling and Dr Llewelyn Morgan explain the advantages of learning Latin. It facilitates learning other languages and helps raise standards across the curriculum.

Friday 31st July: As Andy Burnham sets out his stall for Labour's leadership, he must learn to live within the reality of politics if he wants his party in power, says Politeia's Director, Sheila Lawlor.

To Jeremy Corbyn’s unexpected surge in Labour’s leadership election campaign, can be added a further, less surprising development from another contender. Andy Burnham, has now emerged as a bigger taxer, bigger public spender, than when a minister under Gordon Brown. He boasted in Leeds this week and again on the BBC that he would go further than he had been allowed under Mr Brown’s regime. He wants to impose extra taxes to pay for social care for everyone in old age.

Mr Burnham seems to be out of touch with what voters want. Not only did they return the Conservatives to power in May with a mandate for further benefit and deficit cuts and to shrink, not increase, state dependency; but in a poll for the Independent a majority of those questioned believe Labour to be less electable now than in May. The message was even starker from the analysis of defeated candidates in Labour target seats (lost by the party in 2010) published by the Fabian Society. Their party was not trusted with the economy by the voters, many of whom had switched in 2010 to the Tories.